Chief minister Naveen Patnaik lays the foundation stone for the housing project for slum-dwellers at Gadakana on the outskirts of Bhubaneswar. Telegraph picture

Bhubaneswar, Sept. 1: To mark the 28th foundation day of the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) today, the chief minister Naveen Patnaik laid the foundation stone of a free housing complex for 192 slum-dwellers in Gadakana.

The land rescued from the slum-dwellers will be used to develop housing projects by the Bhubaneswar Development Authority (BDA) in collaboration with private developers.

The slum-dwellers will get their flats with a built up area of 25.7 sq.m each. The housing complex will also be provided with water supply, sewerage, drainage, and tube-well facilities. Special care will be taken for plantation. The entire project will have 12 blocks whereas each block will have 16 flats.

Nearly 25 acres of land will be freed from the slum-dwellers while an area of below 2 acres will be used for the housing scheme with an investment of Rs 7.45 crore under the Basic Service to Urban Poor scheme which is a part of the Jawaharlal Nehru National Urban Renewal Mission.

“Slum dwellers of Gadakana and Damana will be rehabilitated in the scheme. It is the first project of its kind in the entire state to make the urban areas slum free,’’ said a senior BDA official.

The chief minister also laid foundation stone for a high income group (HIG) duplex housing complex at the Phase-II area of Pokhariput where 21 dwelling units will be constructed at an estimated cost of Rs 7 crore.

Housing and urban development minister Badri NarayanPatra also laid foundation stones for various development projects across the city today.

While a modern ‘kalyan mandap’ (community centre) is being planned for the K7 block of Kalinga Nagar with an investment of Rs 2 crore, another market complex in the same locality is planned with Rs 3.45 crore which will have commercial space for 56 shops and three offices.

“Construction of a four-lane 200-ft-wide road starting from Kalinga Studio at Bharatpur to the K8 block of Kalinga Nagar area is also being planned at a cost of Rs 4.8 crore. Another narrow road connecting Damana Square and Netaji Subhas Enclave in Gadakana will be converted into a 100-ft-wide four lane road with an investment of Rs 3.2 crore,’’ added the BDA official.

Patra today also inaugurated an automated building plan approval system (ABPAS) for the BDA. With the help of this system, citizens will get their building drawings scrutinised through the net. The automation software – Auto DCR (Development Centric Rules) – has been developed by Pune-based IT company SoftTech Engineers.

Bhubaneswar will be the first city in the state to use the system.

The IT company officials said that the ABPAS system is in use in 30 cities in the country.

“Under this system, architects or technical persons registered with the BDA can also have their own login and account so that they can check how many plans endorsed by them are already cleared,’’ said Vijay Gupta, chairman and chief operating officer of SoftTech Engineers.